World

Mar. 11, 2014 | 12:10 AM

Thailand grapples with fake passport racket

Italian Luigi Maraldi, left, whose stolen passport was used by a passenger boarding a missing Malaysian airliner, shows his passport as he reports himself to Thai police at Phuket police station in Phuket province, southern Thailand Sunday, March 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Krissada Muanhawang)

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With huge numbers of visitors and patchy law enforcement, Thailand has a booming black market for fake identity documents, and it was here that two passengers on a missing Malaysia Airlines jet were apparently able to get hold of stolen passports.

Thai authorities struggle to track thousands of lost or stolen passports each year.

Both had passports stolen on the Thai holiday island of Phuket.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry said more than 60,000 passports – both Thai and foreign – were reported missing or stolen in Thailand between January 2012 and June 2013 .

Police in Phuket said Maraldi reported his passport stolen in June last year, while Kozel's passport was reported stolen in March 2012 .

Many lost or stolen passports end up with Thais and other Southeast Asians trying to migrate for work, he said.